TRANSHUMANISM THROUGH AESTHETICS:
A DYNAMICAL THEORY OF STYLE AND ALL THINGS BECOMING
(A Manifesto)
“The only laws of matter are those that our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.” – James Clerk Maxwell
Fashion is and ever was my favorite form of technology: first we make the clothes, then the clothes make us.
Any young girl who has slipped into a pair of her mother’s heels (and, in so doing, become greater than herself) can tell you as much:
Style is a study in transformation.
I have always adored clothes, ever since I was very small, and the idea of getting dressed has always been for me a profoundly intimate and sensualistic enterprise. That attitude must have looked quite funny on me, in retrospect; as a kid I was a real weirdo, awkward and more than a few steps removed from anything so promising and filled with potential as a “nymphet.”
In my mind, of course, I was Monica Bellucci. And it was with a great deal of chagrin that I poured over the obligatory piles of ELLEs and VOGUEs, carefully saving my birthday money for Chanel lipsticks and Dolce & Gabbana stilettos, only to put it all on, look in the mirror, and realize that I was NOT, in fact, anything of the sort.
No matter.
As with many things in life, style is for me an exercise in personal will:
You set for yourself an image, something you wish to become. Then – quite simply – you figure out how to become it.
You put on the shoes you wish to wear, and wear them until you know how to wear them. All at once, the wheel of your inner world clicks forward and you become – quite literally – a different person.
That’s the journey.
This publication is intended as a love letter to that great big collective singular experience that is “fashion!” – as well as a personal account of the transformative nature of style. It is my pleasure to invite you to share in the journey, for what it’s worth; for me it’s been an entertaining one, and it is my hope that your feeling will be the same.
But the subject is too high; I will not, however, stop short, but proceed to sartorial pursuits.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the clothes.
Jen Blair is an actor, filmmaker, and freelance writer currently residing in New York, New York. After training in Manhattan with the Atlantic Theatre Company, she received her B.A. in Theatre & Dance from the University of Texas at Austin. She enjoys puns, smooth music, science fiction, drinking, and shoes.
Photo: Dana Patrick.
All space and aeronautics images courtesy of NASA. Site design by Jason Vines.
All other text and images Copyright 2012-2015 in perpetuity by Jennifer Blair, unless otherwise credited; all gifts, promotional merchandise, advertisements, and products involving financial compensation will be noted with due transparency. All rights reserved.
For permissions: changemachinemag@gmail.com
